Westboro Baptist Church will picket Malibu, CA, but is NOT picketing Christian Pepperdine University, nor the Church of Christ that meets on its campus.

I have been embarrassed on a few separate occasions to be associated with Pepperdine University, where I received my Master of Divinity.

But I have never been as embarrassed, nay, as ashamed as I was when I learned that Westboro Baptist Church, the überfundamentalist, homophobic, inbred family hate group church in Topeka, Kansas, notorious for picketing the funerals of fallen US soldiers while carrying signs that read “God hates fags”, is picketing three, count them, THREE different churches in Malibu this weekend, but NOT Pepperdine University and NOT the University Church of Christ that meets on its campus!

How humiliating must it be for anyone associated with Pepperdine when Westboro Baptist comes to picket in Malibu, and neither Pepperdine, nor the Church of Christ on campus warrant picketing.

I am saddened that Westboro Baptist is picketing in Malibu this weekend, but neither Pepperdine nor the CofC on campus warrant picketing.

Then again, this shouldn’t surprise us: A Pepperdine Law School faculty member, Richard Peterson, was the poster child for the “Yes on Prop 8″ campaign, which sought to ban same-sex marriage in California. After an understandable public outcry against the school, Pepperdine’s President, Andy Benton, issued a number of press statements attempting to convince the public and the Pepperdine community that it was officially “neutral” on the issue of same-sex marriage. He stated:

“As a matter of established policy, the university does not take positions on partisan political issues, including ballot initiatives.”

But no sooner had he issued this statement, than Pepperdine’s Law School Dean, Ken Starr, agreed to argue on behalf of the Yes on 8 campaign to overturn and nullify those same-sex marriage that were performed legally between the time the court struck down Prop 8 and its announcement of a stay on same-sex marriages until the courts come to a conclusion on the matter.

A Pepperdine law faculty was the poster child for the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. Its Law Dean, Ken Starr, argued to nullify legal gay marriages

In fact, Pepperdine still won’t allow LGBTQ students to have a club on campus. Pepperdine’s Dean of Students, Mark Davis, said the following:

“Pepperdine seeks to be faithful to this teaching because we believe it is God’s will…and therefore we cannot endorse another view or take a neutral position on sexual morality…we do not believe it is possible for a LGBT student organization to maintain a neutral position.”

What a tremendously sad commentary on Pepperdine and the Church of Christ in Malibu when Westboro Baptist comes to town and says, “Nah, they’re cool.”

What a tremendously sad commentary on Pepperdine and the CofC in Malibu when Westboro Baptist comes to town and says, "Nah, they're cool."

But I’ll ask again: What does it say about the conservative Christian Pepperdine University that WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH looks at them and says, “Nah, they’re cool.”

How culturally inert does a university have to be to not get protested by Westboro Baptist?

So yes, I can understand why Westboro Baptist, while putting together a list of churches, schools, and organizations to protest, might look at Pepperdine University and the University Church of Christ that meets on its campus and say, “Nah, let’s not protest them. They’re with us on this issue.”

In the mean time, Pepperdine has invited Rick Warren, who recently announced that he regrets supporting the California ban on on same-sex marriage, to host a ministry pre-conference just prior to its annual Bible Lectures.

So for Pepperdine, Rick Warren is an invited guest, and Westboro Baptist doesn’t see any need to picket them.

I am equal parts saddened and appalled by this, but in the end, I am really just sad for my friends back at Pepperdine.

I would shake my head, but what good would it do? All I can do is shine a light on a place that not even Westboro Baptist Church finds worthy enough to picket.

9 Responses

A situation fraught with irony at every turn…. and one more piece of evidence of the astounding human capacity for deliberate ignorance, on the part of virtually ALL of the participants of this societal farce…. Kudos for your sense of shame, and embarrassment, it does you credit….

Thomas, I was hoping someone would bring up the scholarship, earmarked for someone who is “commitment to the health of the LGBT community.” So, perhaps a straight discussion facilitator or a straight pre-med major. Do you REALLY think Pepperdine is establishing a scholarship for a gay student?

And Thomas, I’m not arguing that Pepperdine is evil, just that they’re apparently not as relevant to the local community as Our Lady of Malibu, Waveside, Malibu Pres, and Santa Monica High School on social issues.

It’s not that they’re evil, they’re just not as relevant as these titans of social advocacy.

Look, all humour (or not) aside, I’m most bemused by Pepperdine not taking the bible seriously. At least the Westboro Zombies of Hate have read the damn book properly.

If Pepperdine has the gall (unmitigated, I should add) to declare their stance on LGBT people based on what the bible says, why the hell aren’t they stoning their kids to death outside the city walls? It’s in the same damn paragraph, so why are they picking the first bit (abomination) and not the second (stoning)?

See, this is the problem with the common religion of Pepperdine and Westboro. If you did a diff() on their views, you’d find the differences were just lack of followup on their similarities. Maybe that’s part of the reason why Westboro don’t want to target Pepperdine – they realise they actually share enough, that their common impotence to do no more than irritate or prevent people from attending, is enough for their sick, perverted, religious minds.

Does anyone stop to consider that churches that are “anti-gay” are not about denying civil rights to people who ought to have them but rather are about gross and flagrant violation of the concept of a secular state where in the various religions have no standing or say in how the public sector is run. Today it’s the gays, tomorrow it may be some other quirk in their religion that they want the government to do something about.

[…] child of the “Yes on 8″ campaign to ban same-sex marriage, and then after the school tries to claim they don’t take sides on political issues, watches their law school Dean, Ken Starr, lead the […]